


This Isn’t Carrie or 1976

by missmishka



Category: 13 Reasons Why (TV)
Genre: Foundry is not a total dick, Gen, I don't know where it came from, Kids today, M/M, This is so sappy, This is why representation matters, brief references to violence & hate crimes, but I couldn't stop it, please conquer & change this world, so much hope for the future, you amaze me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-24
Updated: 2020-08-24
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:54:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26079820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/missmishka/pseuds/missmishka
Summary: Set during 4x09 Prom: Dean Hansen Foundry had his doubts about the prom, but seeing the Prom Kings crowned makes a lot of things worthwhile.
Relationships: Charlie St. George/Alex Standall, Hansen Foundry/Josh Foundry
Comments: 6
Kudos: 32





	This Isn’t Carrie or 1976

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know if this will come off as cheesy or preachy or whatever, but I don't care. I just suddenly had these feels & channeled them here. (Quick aside: I based the ages for Foundry & his husband on the IMDB dates of birth for the actors playing those parts.) Also, forgot to tag for brief homophobic language.

Hearing Miss Davis announce the winners for Prom King and Queen immediately put Dean Hansen Foundry on edge. He had had several reservations about allowing this event to take place and he was now bracing for a bloodbath.

There were no rafters above the stage for a bucket of pig's blood, but the jocks at this school could still be planning a _Carrie_ re-enactment. It didn’t matter that St. George was a well-liked player on the football team. Tommy Ross had been friends with the culprits in the movie and he had been just as targeted by the “prank" as Carrie White. He feels his molars grind from the tight clench of his jaw as his eyes dart around the gathering, looking for the threats as Alex Standall and Charles St. George are crowned King and King of this prom.

 _This is going to be a nightmare,_ he thinks, scanning with increasing urgency as the music starts for the royal couple's first dance.

He expects to hear the jeers any second now. The laughter and shouted slurs of “faggot" or whatever variations are popular with this generation. He braces for the hurt and the violence that he will take too damned personally.

What he gets, though, is his husband’s hand touching the small of his back.

“This is not what I expected when you asked me to help chaperone tonight,” Josh says, his hand moving to Hansen’s hip to pull him into a sideways hug.

The soft smile on his face as Hansen turns to look at the other man is what makes Hansen realize that this isn’t a horror movie. No one is laughing or trying to degrade the pair of boys dancing in the center of this gathering. 

_This wasn’t a prank._

These boys were really the kings of this prom and Hansen’s eyes grew a little misty at seeing them hold one another close to dance like they were the only people that existed in the world.

“Can you imagine if something like this had happened at your prom?” Josh asks. “Or mine?”

Hansen says nothing about his horrific _Carrie_ visions. They were nearly twenty years apart in age, yet the generation gap meant nothing in terms of homosexual acceptance. Be it the 70s when Hansen finished high school or the 90s for Josh, gays were bashed if their preferences became widely known. The sight of two boys kissing, hugging and dancing like this, at a large gathering of so many mixed views and personalities, is honestly something that he never would have expected to see in his lifetime.

Hansen doesn’t have words to answer his spouse, even though Josh hadn’t really been asking for a response. He doesn’t want the moment to just pass, though, so he does something that he rarely allows himself to do in public. He turns toward Josh, slides a hand along the man’s jaw and kisses his husband. It’s brief, even though he can sense that no one around is paying a bit of attention to them, but he ends it with a gentle nip at Josh’s lush lower lip as a promise for more when they get home.

“Dance with me?” Josh asks, looping his arms around Hansen’s waist.

Normally, Hansen would decline such a request unless copious amounts of alcohol had been consumed, they were at home or surrounded in safety by friends, but this was not a normal kind of night.

“Next slow one,” he replies, cringing as the music changes from slow to little more than loud, rapid noise that makes the kids burst into spastic motion.

“I'll hold you to that,” Josh kisses his cheek then they separate to monitor the now rowdy bunch of teenagers.

He spends the next several minutes circling the perimeter of the dance floor. He says nothing to the girl twerking so low that her dress looks in serious danger of tearing or the couple making out at the edge of the dancing mass. 

This group didn’t know it, but they had just earned a free pass from him for this night. Barring violence and actual sex in public, he wasn’t about to stop this celebration. He hadn’t believed that the teenagers really wanted or needed this, but the evidence was all around him now. These weren’t bad kids and, as Clay Jensen had made painfully clear during the active shooter drill, they needed to just be kids.

It was a touching sight to behold. The same sex couples weren’t the only change that stood out to him in the crowd. The interracial pairs still took him by surprise despite the fact that he had been with Josh for ten years now. Watching this group, in this moment, it was easy to forget the racism, homophobia, transphobia and all the other hate so prevalent in the world. He knew it existed among this student body. He dealt with the consequences of it every day as Dean of Discipline, but it had all been set aside for this one night. 

If this generation could see the importance of doing _that_ then, maybe, soon, they could see a day where the hate could stop. Maybe these would be the ones to finally do what they’d been told by so many posters hung in guidance counselor offices; _Be the change you want to see in the world._

The song change from fast to slow shakes Hansen out of his thoughts and he goes to find Josh. The man looks briefly startled when Hansen appears before him with his hand extended in invitation, but he’s quick to catch on. With a laugh and smile that tickle Hansen more than he'll admit, Josh takes his hand and follows him to the outskirts of the dancing area.

“We don’t really have to do this.”

“I know,” Hansen pulls the man into his arms, “but I want to.”

They don’t bother with hands on the waist and shoulders with their bodies rigidly held apart by locked elbows like Hansen would require of younger dancing partners at such functions. He holds Josh close, buries his face in the crook of the other man’s neck and dances in a slow, lazy circle with his husband.


End file.
